Never a character like him before, nor ever will there be again. I think I'm gonna cry! [sobbing sound]. THANK YOU Mr. Breathed for all the years and all the memories. Genius it was, all of it. Sheer genius.

Breathed ran "Bloom County" into the ground by the end of the 80s. It was good until he discovered his underlying formula, then it became mechnical. "Outland" was a ridiculous arty indulgence that turned into Bloom County Redux. "Opus" was a pale shadow of what came before. Time to stop living off of the past, come up with a new schtick.

Is that like some alt-punk arts collective based in Oakland?

I'll miss this strip, very much. Thanks for drawing and writing it. When I was a kid I scoured my library for American newspapers (they were hard to find) so my brother and I could cut out Calvin and Hobbes strips. When it ended I cried.

Now I'm losing my adult version of Calvin and Hobbes. I understand the sentiment, of being afraid of what the anger of current events and how ignorance can effect you. There's not much to be done for such a mess. I'll miss Opus.

from the depths of my heart, thank you so much

one on NPR and the one here on Salon, there has been no mention of Breathed's illness. However it has been a central point of conversation at least in the (admittedly parochial) Letters section of Salon. Maybe it is the Entertainment All Access Hollywood Tonight in me, but WTheck?

I hope Opus finds paradise appointed Permanent Penguin Ambassador to Tahiti by President Barak Obama.

First graf of the second page. Duh.

Truly I do. The best comic strip ever - while Bloom County was running, Calvin and Hobbes took second place in my heart.

It's amazing to me to remember that, lo these many years later. Outland, for me, was populated by zombies. Opus has come closer to the waking world of the funny pages, but in truth I've believed for twenty years that Berkeley Breathed really needed Bloom County's daily deadline. Without that, the fishwrap started to smell a little.

I credit that daily deadline with giving me my favorite daily strip of all time. It's the strip that spells out the "fourteen-letter S word" apparently singled out for scorn in the Meese Commission Report on Pornography.

It's the strip whose last two panels are missing.

I very much hope that Berkeley Breathed will find an artistic endeavor that will bring Bloom County-worthy quality and joy while giving him the time to reflect on his art that I believe he's always wanted.

And, a bit selfishly: I hope that this new endeavor will last for the ages.

It was my favorite comic strip of all time, hands down, nothing else has ever come close. Ever. I doubt anything ever will. In fact, I mostly don't even bother to read comic strips any more, since most (except Tom Tomorrow) are just insipid pap for children.

Bloom County--Opus and the rest of the gang--appealed to the kid in all of us. I loved the closet of anxieties, Bill the cat, Binkley, Cutter John, and my favorite character of all, Milo Bloom.

There are tons of great kids' books out there. Personally, I don't think one more is nearly as important as the wise, sly, pointedly humorous adult view of the world that we saw in Bloom County.

His poor wife.

I snort the nose, Lucifer! Banana! Banana!

I'll miss you, Opus. Just like I miss Milo, Michael, Oliver, Cutter John, Bobbi, Portnoy, Hodge Podge, etc.

I'll even miss Bill, Steve and Senator Bedfellow.

Thank you for a wonderful body of newspaper work, Mr. Breathed, you are one of a rare breed. Perhaps you'll show up in someone else's comics (Pearls Before Swine jumps to mind) as a ragged figure hanging from a dungeon wall.

I look forward to your future children's books for both myself and my two children.

Kinda hard to drive a buggy without one. Technically it's my mom's buggy whip, but she lets me use it whenever I want to.

Now all I need is to track down the other stuff on the list.

I too think his best work was Bloom County. He is obviously smart and has his heart in the right place. He is talented and clever.

But really, I do think he is just tired of doing the comic.

He can use the excuse that things are going downhill in this country, but many of us have had to deal with the crap that's already come down. We've made out peace and figured out where our bliss lies, outside and beyond this cryptofascist hell that America has become.

So his excuse seems hollow. But I cannot blame him for wanting to leave well enough alone.

The one thing that throws me a bit is Berke's flip attitude in this interview. He is entitled to respond as he pleases, I suppose, but somehow he seems diminished in my eyes.

Here is hoping he finds his way into some happiness rather than settling for bitterness. Austin, (where I assume he still lives) is a great place to bump into people who have figgered their way out of their cynicism. So I hope he takes a new look at getting out more.

The guy is talented and seems to love the drawing arts, so good luck to him finding a new tack that will make him happy that might also continue to incorporate some of the charm of Bloom County that so drove his fans to adore the penguin.

I'm just old enough to remember seeing the last year or two of Bloom County in the paper. I remember Opus's iconic presence on various items, and, at some point a few years after the strip's demise, I bought (or asked my parents to buy) Tales Too Ticklish to Tell. After that I became a big fan, and I gradually got every book except for Toons for our Times, most of which is contained within Bloom County Babylon.

The upshot of all of this is that I read lots and lots of Bloom County, and while many of the political and cultural references sailed over my head, I absorbed quite a bit. Fast forward to my sophomore year of high school, in 1997-1998. I was on the Academic Octathlon team, and the "wild card" event had to do with the 1980s. I completely and totally dominated. I knew almost everything, and won a gold medal.

It's sort of a cliche to mope about how bad change is, and it's a shame to see Breathed do it himself. I see plenty of 11-year old girls who still dress like children... not that he doesn't make some good points.